1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display system which displays various kinds of information using a plurality of display devices, a display method, an information processing apparatus, and a computer-readable storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A system which allows members at remote places to make visual and audible communications with each other using communication units is known. As such system, for example, a video conference system is known. The video conference system configures a pseudo conference room by presenting references used in a conference on display units at remote places and displaying video images of conference partners using video cameras.
In association with such video conference system, a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-140990 is known. This system includes a plurality of member terminals each having a video phone, and one host terminal connected to these plurality of member terminals, and divisionally displays images of attendees at the respective member terminals on one screen upon holding a conference.
Also, a system which allows all member terminals to exchange video images with each other and to share a common screen without setting any host terminal is known. In this system, when a certain member terminal displays a new window or assures a region to change the display position or size of an existing window, it has to make adjustment with all other member terminals. For example, all member terminals have to wait for processing of other terminals and are inhibited from, for example, assuring a region before all terminals similarly assure regions and display windows. This is to avoid inconsistent display results.
These related arts suffer the following problems.
Since a plurality of member terminals are connected to one host terminal, transactions are concentrated on the host terminal, thus causing bottlenecks. As a result, it is difficult to increase the number of member terminals and display units that can attend the conference. For example, when a plurality of video conferences are held at the same time, it is difficult to unify them into a single conference.
In the method in which member terminals exchange video images with each other without setting any host terminal, a communication time and processing time required to assure a window display region increase with increasing number of member terminals. For this reason, it becomes difficult to efficiency conduct a conference.